Article dispenser



April 7, 9 A. MAINERS' 2,880,907

ARTICLE DISPENSER Filed March 6, 1957 United States Patent ARTICLEDISPENSER Artez F. Maiuers, Shelby County, Tenn.

Application March 6, 1957, Serial No. 644,336

Claims. (Cl. 221-299) This invention relates to a mechanism fordispensing a stack of articles. ployed in a bakery for dispensing lightweight aluminum pie pans from a stack one at a time onto a conveyor tobe subsequently filled. Although, from time to time in the followingspecification the use of the present invention will be described inconnection with this particular application, it should be understoodthat it is not intended to so limit the invention but it may be used inother applications to dispense other sizes and shapes of articles.

In dispensing articles, as aluminum pie pans, the problenl often existsof the articles not separating properly from a stacked or nesteddisposition. Thus, my invention is directed towards providing anefficient and improved dispenser which overcomes this problem.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a positivemeans of dispensing articles one at a time from a stacked disposition.

A further object is to provide a dispenser for any size or shape ofobject that has a flange or bead on the edge.

A further object is to provide a dispensing mechanism including areciprocable escapement and separating mechanism having a knife edgewhich is movable between the flanges of the lower two articles to bedispensed for the separation thereof.

A further object is to provide such a dispensing mechanism with an upperdeck, and a lower deck vertically and closely spaced beneath said upperdeck and with each of the decks having an open area through which anarticle to be dispensed will pass and each having stop means forpreventing the articles from passing therethrough.

'A further object is to provide such a dispensing mechanism in whichsaid upper deck and lower deck are spaced apart substantially thethickness of the flanges of the articles to be dispensed so that thechannel formed thereby is adapted to receive the flanges of only one ofthe articles to be dispensed.

A further object is generally to improve the design and construction ofdispensing mechanisms.

The means by which the foregoing and other objects of the presentinvention are accomplished and the manner of their accomplishment willbe readily understood from the following specification upon reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the dispenser of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken as on the line IIII of Fig. 1, showingthe escapement and separating mechanism in a first position, and withthe thickness of the flanges of the pie pans being exaggerated forpurposes of illustration.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to Fig. 2,except showing the escapement and separating mechanism in anintermediate position in its movement from said first position to asecond position.

Fig. 4 is also an enlarged fragmentary sectional view It is particularlyadapted to be em- 2,880,907 Patented Apr. 7, 1959 similar to Fig. 2,except showing the escapement and separating mechanism in said secondposition.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the scale of Figs. 1 and 2, and taken ason the line V-V of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale ofthe knife edge per se taken as along the line VIVI of Fig. 4. I 7

Referring now to the drawings in which the various parts are indicatedby numerals, dispenser 11 includes a base member 12 having an openingtherethrough which is larger than the articles to be dispensed for freepassage of the articles therethrough. Thus, in the present drawings isshown the circular pie pans P to be dispensed and a circular opening 13having a diameter greater than that of the pie pans. A plurality ofupstanding rods 15'ar'e mounted on base member 12 adjacent opening 13thereby forming a guide to align the stack of pans P above the openingand to prevent the pans from being moved laterally when the dispenser isoperated.

An escapement and separating mechanism 17 is reciprocably mounted frombase member 12 as by bearings 19 for reciprocation in a horizontalplane. Mechanism 17 includes a pair of spaced side members 21 joined atthe ends thereof by a pair of spaced end members 23 to form a rigidframe 25 which encircles the stack of pans P. The spacing between sidemembers 21 and end members 23 is such that the stack of pans will not becontacted by the frame 25. Each of side members 21 slidably extendsthrough a pair of the bearings 19 to permit reciprocation of mechanism17 to the right and left as viewed in Fig. l. Mechanism 17 may bereciprocated by any suitable means, as for example a solenoid, notshown, and connected to frame 25 as by a shaft 27.

Escapement and separating mechanism 17 additionally includes a lowerdeck 29, and an upper deck 31 fixedly interconnected with the lower deckand vertically spaced thereabove a distance substantially equal to thethickness of the flanges F on pie pans P. Lower deck 29 comprises a pairof lower plates 33 respectively fixedly attached to the top of sidemembers 21 and projecting inwardly towards one another from therespective side members. Arcuate cut-out portions 35 are respectivelyprovided in lower plates 33 opposite one another to form an open area inlower deck 29 greater than the area of pans P whereby the pans mayfreely pass therethrough. Upper deck 31 comprises a pair of upper plates37 respectively fixedly supported from lower plates 33 as by spacers 39.Upper plates 37 project inwardly towards one another from the spacersand form with lower plates 33 a channel therebetween adapted to receivethe flanges F of pie'pans P. Arcuate cut-out portions 41 arerespectively provided in upper plates 37 opposite one another to form anopen area in upper deck 31 greater than the area of pans"? whereby thepans may freely pass therethrough. The open area of the upper deck 31and the open area of the lower deck 29 are staggered, that is, the openarea of upper deck 31 is to the left and the open area of lower deck 29is to the right as viewed in Fig. 2.

The inner edges of upper plates 37, exclusive of the cut-out portion 41,are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of flanges F andgreater than the greatest diameter of the body B of the pie pans Pwhereby body B will hang down between the plates in the manner bestshown in Fig. 5 and thus a stop means is provided for the flanges Fwhich prevents the pie pans from passing wheii this stop means is underthe pans. Similarly, thein'ner edges of lower plates 33 are spaced apartas above de scribed for the upper plates whereby stop means is pro videdon lower deck 29.. It will he understood that since the cut-out area ofthe upper deck 31 is staggered relative to the cut-out area of the lowerdeck 29, it follows that -the'st0p :means ofthe upper-deck and the lowerdeck are staggered. .Thesedgesofeachof upper plates 37adjacent the righthand part of cut=out portion 41, as viewed in Fig. l, is sharpened toprovide a knife edge as at 43, the ifunctionxof whichwillzbe apparent inthe description of the operation of;thetdispenser-tofollow. The knifeedge 43,;is preferably sharpened from the upper and lower faces of upperplates ,37 to provide a wedge shaped point terminatingat ;a. positionsubstantially half way between stile t pper andtlower faces of theplate.

As previously explained, escapement and separating m eehanism 17is-reciprocably mounted from base mem- ;;be r ;1 2. The reciprocation isfrom and to a first posi- =;tio n, best illustrated inFigs. 1 and .2,and to and from 1 hignment with opening '13 and the stop means go thelower decki-29 .exten ds above the side edge-porsigns :of 11118 opening.,In said second position the open of tlflworde ck 1'29Ji5 in verticalalignment-With open- ;ingrlfi and the stopmeans of theupper deck 31extends abovexthe side edge portions of the 1 opening.

In the operation of dispenser :11, the stacked pans -P are placedbetween .guide rods in the manner best shown ,in ;Figs. 1 and 5. Forconvenience and clarity lowermost pie pan will 'be designated Pl, thenext -one above that :PZ, vetc. Similarly, the flanges of the lowermostpan P1 will the designated F1, the next one above that F2, etc.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that when .meehanism 17 is insaid first position, knife edges 43 are in horizontal alignment with animaginary point lying be een :flanges F1 and F2, and flanges F1 rest onthe stop .means of the lower deck 29 to support the stack of pie ,pans.When .mechanism v17 is moved from said jirstposition to said secondposition, knife edges 43 will pass between flanges F1 and F2 and due tothe wedging action of the knife ,edges on flanges F1 and F2, pie pan P1will be separated and freed from pan P2. During ;this movementofmechanism 17, one position of which is illustrated in Fig. 3, flanges F1will be received between upper deck ,31 and lower deck 29. Whenmechanism 17 reaohes said second position pan P1 will drop through theopen area of lower deck 29 and out through openinglfi, At the same time,the stop means of upper deek ,31 will have'moved under flangesFZ tosupport the of pie pans. Then when mechanism 17 moves i; said secondposition to said first position the flanges Eladrop down through theopen area of upper deck 3?.

onto {the stop means of lower deck 29 in position for pan ;P 2 do bedispensed in a manner as above described for pan P1. Thus, reciprocationof mechanism 17 is effective :to dispense the pie pans P one at a timefrom the s ack- From the foregoing description it is apparent that aneffective dispensing mechanism is provided which insures that thearticles to be dispensed are properly separated. Additionally, :it isapparent that the dispenser of the present invention is efficient andprovides positive means for delivering the articles one at a time to apoint below the dispenser.

I claim:

1. In a machine ,for dispensing flanged articles from a stack, ahorizontally .shiftable mechanism including a horizontally disposedlower deck and a horizontally disposed upper deck vertically spaced fromsaid lower deck and fixedly interconnected therewith, the spacingbetween said upper and lower decks being substantially equal to Q il tlfl fifi Of the flanges of one of the articles to be dispensed, each ofsaid upper and lower decks being provided with an open area throughwhich an article to be dispensed will pass and each having a solid stopportion thereof for preventing the articles from passing therethrough,said stop portions being integral parts of the respective decks and inhorizontal alignment therewith, said open areas and said stop portionsrespectively being in staggered relationship, said open area of saidupper deck being oiiset inrhorizontal spaced relationship from said openarea of said lower deck, said stop portions being in partly overlappingrelationship, said upper deck being provided with a knife edge adjacentthe open area therein, said knife edge at its greatest verticaldimension being substantially'the same in thickness as the spacingbetween said upper and lower decks guiding means for vertically aligninga stack of articles to be dispensed, said mechanism being shiftable fromand to a first position in which the open area of said upper deck andthe stop portions of said lower deck is in alignment with said guidingmeans and ,shiftable to andfrom a second position in which the open areaof said lower deck and the stop portion of said upper deck is inalignment with said guiding means, when said mechanism is in said firstposition said knife edge being disposed in alignment with a pointbetween the flanges of the lowermost two articles to be dispensed andsaid stop portion in said upper deck being unobstructed thereabove andin horizontal alignment with said open area in said upper deck wherebywhen said mechanism is shifted to said second position said knife edgeand said stop portion of said upper deck passes between the flanges andseparates the lower two articles to be dispensed and the lower one isdispensed through the open area of said lower deck while the remainderof the stack is supported by the stop portion of said upper deck.

2. In a machine for dispensing articles from a stack, a horizontallyshiftable mechanism including a horizontally disposed lower deck and ahorizontally disposed upper deck vertically spaced from said lower deckand fixedly interconnected therewith, each of said upper and lower decksbeing provided with an open area through which an article to bedispensed will pass and each having a substantially fiat stop portionthereof for preventing the articles from passing therethrough, said stopportions being integral parts of the respective decks said open areasand said stop portions respectively being in staggered relationship,said open area of said upper deck being offset in horizontal spacedrelationship from said open area of said lower deck, said stop portionsbeing in partly overlapping relationship, said upper deck be ingprovided with a knife edge adjacent the open area therein, a pluralityof vertically extending rods for vertically aligning a stack of articlesto be dispensed, said rods extending from above said upper and lowerdecks downwardly therebeyond whereby providing means for guiding thearticles during the dispensing thereof, said mechanism being shiftablefrom and to a first position in which the open area of said upper deckand the stop portion of said lower deck is in position for alignmentwith a stack of articles aligned by said rods and shiftable to and froma second position in which the open area of said lower deck and the stopportion of said upper deck is in position for alignment witha stack ofarticles aligned by said rods, when said mechanism is in said firstposition said knife edge being disposed in alignment with a pointbetween portions of the lowermost two articles to be dispensed and saidstop portion in said upper deck being in horizontal alignment with saidopen area in said upper deck whereby when said mechanism is shifted tosaid second position said knife edge and said stop portion of said upperdeck passes between said portions of the articles and separates thelower two articles to be dispensed and the lower one is dispensedthrough the open area of said lower deck while the remainder of thestack is supported by the stop means of said upper deck.

' 3. A machine for dispensing flanged articles from a stack comprising abase having an opening therein, upstanding rods mounted from said baseadjacent the periphery of the base opening to form a guide for thealignment of the flanged articles over the base opening,

a mechanism shiftably supported from said base and spaced above saidbase, said mechanism including a frame having spaced side members, apair of lower plates respectively fixedly mounted on said side membersand being spaced apart a distance less than the width of said articlesto be dispensed, said lower plates being cut-out to form an open areagreater than the width of said articles to be dispensed, a pair of upperplates respectively fixedly joined to said lower plates and spacedthereabove, the spacing between said upper and lower plates beingsubstantially the same as the thickness of the flanges of the articlesto be dispensed, said upper plates being cut-out to form an open areagreater than the width of the articles to be dispensed, said upper plateopen area being staggered relative to said lower plate open area, saidupper plate open area being offset in horizontal spaced relationshipfrom said lower plate open area, said upper and lower plates being inpartly overlapping relationship, said upstanding rods extending fromsaid base above said upper and lower plates whereby to guide thearticles while in stacked relationship and during the dispensingthereof, said upper plates being provided with knife edges adjacent saidupper plate open area, said knife edges being in alignment with a pointbetween the flanges of the lower two articles of the stack to bedispensed, said frame being shiftable to carry said upper and lowerplates from and to a first position in which said upper plate area is inalignment with said base opening and the articles to be dispensed, andshiftable to and from a second position in which said lower plate openarea is in alignment with said base opening and the articles to bedispensed, shift of said plates into said second position from saidfirst position being effective to wedge the knife edges of said upperplates between the flanges of the two lowermost articles to separate thetwo and drop said lowermost article through said lower plate open area,said upper and lower plates being arranged so that in the shift of saidplates toward said second position said knife edges of said upper platesare adapted to complete the wedging of the two lowermost articles beforesaid second position is reached whereby the lowermost article will bereleased from the other articles in the stack and will be free to dropstraight downward when said lower plate open area comes into alignmenttherewith, and shift of said plates from said second position into saidfirst position being effective to drop the stack so that the stack restson said lower plate.

4. A machine for dispensing flanged articles from a stack comprising abase having an opening therein, upstanding rods mounted from said baseadjacent the periphery of the base opening to form a guide for thealignment of the flanged articles over the base opening, a mechanismshiftably supported from said base and spaced above said base, saidmechanism including a frame having spaced side members, a pair of lowerplates respectively fixedly mounted on said side members and beingspaced apart a distance less than the width of said articles to bedispensed, said lower plates being cut-out to form a open area greaterthan the width of said articles to be dispensed, a pair of upper platesrespectively fixedly joined to said lower plates and spaced thereabove,said upper plates being cut out to form an open area greater than thewidth of the articles to be dispensed, said upper plate open area beingstaggered relative to said lower plate open area, said upper plate openarea being offset in horizontal spaced relationship from said lowerplate open area, said upper and lower plates being in partly overlappingrelationship, said upstanding rods extending from said base above saidupper and lower plates whereby to guide the articles while in stackedrelationship and during the dispensing thereof said upper plates beingprovided with knife edges adjacent said upper plate open area, saidknife edges being in alignment with a point between the flanges of twoof the articles of the stack to be dispensed, said frame'being shiftableto carry said upper and lower plates from and to a first position inwhich said upper plate open area is in alignment with said base openingand the articles to be dispensed, and shiftable to and from a secondposition in which said lower plate open area is in alignment with saidbase opening and the articles to be dispensed, shift of said platesinto. said second position from said first position "being effective towedge the knife edges of said upper plates between the flanges of two ofthe articles to separate the two, said upper and lower plates beingarranged so that in the shift of said plates from said first positiontowards said second position saidknife edges of said upper plates passfrom one side of the articles to be dispensed to the other side thereofto complete the wedging of the lowermost articles before said secondposition is reached whereby the lowermost article will be released fromthe other articles in the stack and will be free to drop straightdownward when said lower plate open area comes into alignment therewith,and shift of said plates from said second position into said firstposition being effective to drop the stack so that the stack rests onsaid lower plates.

5. A machine for dispensing flanged articles from a stack comprising abase having an opening therein, upstanding rods mounted from said baseadjacent the periphery of the base opening to form a guide for thealignment of the flanged articles over the base opening, a mechanismshiftably supported from said base and spaced above said base, saidmechanism including a frame having spaced side members, a pair of lowerplates respectively fixedly mounted on said side members, said lowerplates being arcuately cut out to form an open area slightly greaterthan the width of said articles to be dispensed, a pair of upper platesrespectively fixedly joined to said lower plates and spaced thereabove,said upper plates being arcuately cut out to form an open area slightlygreater than the width of the articles to be dispensed, said upper plateopen area being staggered relative to said lower plate open area, saidupper plate open area being offset in horizontal spaced relationshipfrom said lower plate open area, said upper plates overlapping a majorpart of said lower plates, said upper plates being provided with knifeedges adjacent said upper plate open area, said knife edges being inalignment with a point between the flanges of the lower two articles ofthe stack to be dispensed, said knife edges being arcuate andterminating at a position substantially half-way between the oppositefaces of said upper plate whereby providing a wedge adapted to spreadapart the articles to be dispensed, each of said knife edges at itsgreatest vertical dimension being substantially the same as the spacingbetween said upper and lower plates, said frame being shiftable to carrysaid upper and lower plates from and to a first position in which saidupper plate open area is in alignment with said base opening and thearticles to be dispensed, and shiftable to and from a second position inwhich said lower plate open area is in alignment with said base openingand the articles to be dispensed, shift of said plates into said secondposition from said first position being effective to wedge the knifeedges of said upper plates between the flanges of the two lowermostarticles to separate the two and cause the upper and lower plates to bedisposed on opposite sides of the lowermost article and thence to dropsaid lowermost article through said lower plate open area, said upperand lower plates being horizontally disposed and the spacing betweensaid upper and lower plates being substantially the same as thethickness of the flanges of the articles to be dispensed whereby thelowermost article will be held in a horizontal disposition therebetweenduring the shift of said plates into said second position from saidfirst position, and shift of said plates from said second position 7 8into said first. position being :e'ifective to drop 'the stack 1,666,008Graffenberger Apr. 10, "1928 :so thatthe .stacik'rests 'on .said lowerplate. 2,233,690 Williamson 1941 2,293,073 Osborne et a1 Aug. '18, 1942References .Citedlin the file of this patent 2,561,723 Berger July 24,1951 PATENTS 5 2,602,556 Sheehan July 8, 1952 1,260,432 Nias Mar. 26,1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,272,764 Blan'kenhorn et a1. July '16, 1918529,549 Great Britain Nov. 22, 1940

